Saturday, November 10, 2012Postgame notes: Arizona State
By Pedro Moura

LOS ANGELES -- USC (No. 19 BCS, No. 21 AP) played a strong second half to comfortably beat Arizona State 38-17 on Saturday at the Coliseum. Here are notes and quotes from the game that won't make it into our other coverage off the day:

McNeal's big game

Curtis McNeal hadn't ran the ball more than 11 times all season as he settled into a clear-cut backup role behind Penn State transfer Silas Redd.

But with Redd hurt on Saturday, the Trojans used McNeal more than he's ever been used before, running him 31 times. He gained 163 yards on those carries, including two touchdowns, and added a 22-yard scoring grab.

USC coach Lane Kiffin praised McNeal after the game. Kiffin said he was especially proud that only one of McNeal's carries went for negative yardage throughout the contest.

"It felt good," McNeal said. "But the only thing I'm worried about is getting the W. No matter if I get the ball or not, I'm just going out there to compete with my team."

Kiffin said Redd was not available for Saturday's game. He did not specify why.

Redd was in uniform and on the USC sideline throughout the game.

Much better on defense

USC played horrible defense against Oregon last week -- that much is indisputable. But the Trojans looked a lot better this week, and that's what players were focusing on by the time they left the stadium on Saturday night.

Defensive tackle George Uko said it feels like USC has been going against nothing but no-huddle offenses all year long. The key to its success, he said, was stopping one part of Arizona State's offense and letting everything flow from there.

"The biggest thing was we stopped the run," Uko said. "And that allowed us to have a pass rush and know they were passing on certain downs."

The Sun Devils ran the ball 35 times but gained just 71 yards. As a whole, they gained 250 yards, which tied the least amount USC has allowed this season.

ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly also was credited with minus-9 yards rushing, his worst total of the year.

Final notes: Lee filed his ticket requests for Saturday's game too late, he said, so his biological father, Elton, and aunt Valencia couldn't come to the Coliseum like they had planned. But they now plan to attend the UCLA game next week, Lee said. ... Lee now has 11 100-yard receiving games in 22 career games. He's also had seven games with double-digit catches this season. ... Barkley became the all-time conference leader in passing yards during the first half, surpassing Carson Palmer's mark of 11,818 yards and setting a new record of 12,026 yards by game’s end. ... The Sun Devils entered the game outscoring their opponents 102-24 in the fourth quarters of games this season, but the Trojans topped them 10-0 in the last stanza on Saturday.